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HB 1234: Bad Meatloaf No One Likes

Rep. Steve Hickey observed on Facebook that during Thursday's committee hearing, HB 1234, Governor Dennis Daugaard's package of education reforms, "was referred to as a botched meatloaf. Nothing they add would make anyone want to eat it."

According to yesterday's poll by that Sioux Falls paper, not many South Dakotans want a taste of that meatloaf:

Online poll on HB 1234, Daugaard's education reform package, 2012.02.2487.7% disapproval. Review the poll archive, and you'll find the Governor's education ideas are less popular than the Oglala Sioux Tribe's lawsuit against Budweiser. 87.7% is a larger percentage than those who support Rep. Deelstra's sensible county cremation bill (which passed unanimously! Nice work, Bob!) That's a larger percentage than those who think changing the state flag is unnecessary. That's larger percentage than the Republican supermajority in the State Senate.

87.7% disapproval. Flip to the 12.3% approval, and you find Governor Daugaard's education proposals are just slightly more popular than Congress. As John Thune and Kristi Noem keep reminding us, that kind of approval rating means your support is down to blood relatives and paid staffers (which in Pierre is pretty much the same thing, right?).

The number who voted in yesterday's online poll, 1387, was more than double the average turnout for that Sioux Falls paper's polls. A lot of people give a darn about HB 1234, and darn few want it to pass.

My petition asking the Legislature to chuck HB 1234 and convene a task force to study education now has gathered 2200 signatures in nine days. Please realize, that's more signatures than I would need to run for Congress in South Dakota... as a Republican.

One of Rep. Hickey's Facebook friends says that "if the education lobby is against it, it must be a good bill for the taxpayer." Yet Rep. Hickey himself is among fourteen Republican legislators expressing everything from reservations about to outright opposition to HB 1234.

Well-known Republican, school board member, and District 4 House candidate Fred Deutsch doesn't want to eat Governor Daugaard's meatloaf, either:

As good intentioned as the bill is (to raise academic achievement) we have real concerns it will undermine the foundations of our collaborate success and lead to the opposite of what's desired. I have no doubt some schools could benefit from HB1234, but not [Watertown]. It would make creating environments of academic success more difficult [Fred Deutsch, blog comment, Madville Times, 2012.02.24].

Almost nobody likes HB 1234. Legislators keep dropping the meatloaf on the floor, then throwing the same stale, crummy bits back in the pan with more lint from the floor and generic ketchup on top.

Don't serve this garbage to your kids. Hit the crackerbarrels today, tell your legislators to throw HB 1234 out... and then let's get together this summer to grill up some real solutions!

14 Comments

  1. Sam Peil 2012.02.25

    I am tweeting from Brookings crackerbarrel this morning. @sampeil

  2. Douglas Wiken 2012.02.25

    I heard a joke that seems to apply to the idea that the rotten meatloaf bill should be passed and then amended to eliminate the flaws.

    A man gets a checkup at good Dr. Daugaard's office. The Doc says, "You are in good shape, your blood pressure is good, your cholesterol levels are good, your PSA is normal." Fred Meatloaf gets up and walks out of the office. Dies of a heart attack right outside the door.

    Dr. Daugaard and nurse Goodbody look at him. Doc says to nurse, "Turn him around so it looks like he was coming in."

    Hope my wife hasn't decided to make meatloaf.

  3. mike 2012.02.25

    Sounds like Daugaard and Obama both like to ram policies down the faces of American's.

  4. caheidelberger Post author | 2012.02.25

    You're not going to pull me off-point that way, Mike. Nothing you can say about President Obama changes the fact that HB 1234 is bad idea.

  5. Steve Sibson 2012.02.25

    Cory, HB1234 is Obama's idea implemented via the National Governor's Association (arm of the New World Order).

  6. caheidelberger Post author | 2012.02.25

    New World Order, yard gnomes, I don't care: HB 1234 is a bad idea! Laser focus here, people!

  7. Steve Sibson 2012.02.25

    The entire K-12 public system is a bad idea. HB1234 is just more of the same.

  8. Steve Sibson 2012.02.25

    When this passes, I hope the teachers of this state will understand that they are being played as pawns, just like thier students. If the teachers want higher pay,then they must push for a free-market system...vouchers.

  9. D.E. Bishop 2012.02.25

    "New World Order, yard gnomes, I don’t care: HB 1234 is a bad idea! Laser focus here, people!"

    Pretty funny Cory.

  10. Steve Sibson 2012.02.25

    Any Democrat want to explain why Obama sends his kids to a private school?

  11. caheidelberger Post author | 2012.02.25

    Utterly irrelevant, Steve, to the question of the merits of HB 1234, which doesn't even mention private schools.

  12. D.E. Bishop 2012.02.25

    Sibson, he's afraid the garden gnomes will get his daughters.

Comments are closed.